Sports Wrapups: Dec. 27

Jesse Thielke update

Four-time WIAA state wrestling champion and 2011 Germantown graduate Jesse Thielke, has qualified for the US Greco-Roman Olympic Trials to be held later this summer.

He earned that honor with a fourth-place in his weight class at the recently held US Open in Cleveland, where he went 4-2 against experienced wrestlers, almost all of whom were older than him.

A total of 54 teams were represented and more than 300 wrestlers were vying for Olympic Trials' berths in the event.

The trials will be held in Iowa City, Iowa, in April with the Olympics slated for London, England, later this summer.

After moving to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., in March after winning his last prep title, Thielke has steadily improved his Greco-Roman Olympic style wrestling.

In March, he traveled with the US FILA Junior Wrestling team to Varna, Austria, for the Austrian International Wrestling Tournament. Eight countries were represented (Austria, France, Georgia, Finland, Czech Republic, Croatia, Switzerland, and the United States) as Thielke claimed the title in that event.

In April, Thielke won the USA FILA Junior Greco-Roman Nationals and placed eighth in the Senior Division at the US Open in Cleveland. Thielke was also awarded the FILA Junior Greco-Roman "Outstanding Wrestler" award.

In May, Thielke won the Northern Plains Senior Regional Championships in Waterloo, Iowa, and the FILA Junior World Team Trials in Indianapolis.

In July, he competed in the FILA Junior World Championships in Bucharest, Romania. Thielke placed 15th.

In October, Thielke earned a bronze medal at the Sunkist Kids International Open in Mesa, Ariz.

In November, he traveled with the US Senior Greco-Roam wrestling team to Minsk, Belarus, for a two-week training camp with nine European countries (Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhanstan, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Moldova), that concluded with the Karavaev Cup International Team Tournament. Thielke went 3-1 for the American team, which placed sixth.

Germantown boys basketball

After two heady, three-game weeks in a row, the unbeaten and top-ranked Warhawks showed no sign of letdown against Milwaukee Lutheran on Dec. 20, roaring out to a 32-11 first quarter lead and then never looking back in routing the Red Knights, 94-60.

Brothers Zak (22 points) and Jake (20) Showalter led the way for Germantown as it improved to 8-0 on the season.

"Walking to the locker room (at halftime) someone told me that both Showalters have 15 apiece," said dad and coach Steve Showalter. "That was a neat thing to hear. Jake had had a couple of tough games against Dominican and Whitefish Bay, but he got on a three-game streak the previous week and has felt good ever since. I swear, in recent games, he has to be hitting 80-90 percent of his threes."

The Warhawks had another huge set of challenges this week, as it took part in the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook Challenge. They took on unbeaten and sixth-ranked in Division 2 polls Wauwatosa East (6-0) on Tuesday and then faced either third-ranked in D1 De Pere (7-0) or surging Arrowhead on Wednesday.

De Pere gave Germantown one of its only two losses of the year last season in the final of this tournament.

"If you talk to some people, there are people who think that this is as good a field as you'll get (in a holiday tournament)," coach Showalter said. "You get the four coaches in the same room and you'd have a hard time getting agreement on who is the best team. But it's a good time of the year to have a game like this, because it's going to be tough both nights, no matter who you play."

Germantown never blinked in winning its prep game against Lutheran. It was 32-11 at the quarter and 54-25 at the half.

"They wanted to try and get out and run with us and we have no trouble with a team doing that at all," coach Showalter said. "We wanted to get inside and we established that pretty well as they had no one who could guard Luke (6-11 center Fischer). Once we got that started, there wasn't much they (the Red Knights) could do."

Fischer had 18 points and forward Dan Studer nine for the Warhawks, who had a total of 10 players score in the game. Good news for the Warhawks was provided by the appearance of senior guard Zack Kumbier, who had injured his knee in the game against Menomonee Falls a few days earlier, but appeared to have no ill effects afterward.

Germantown had eight 3-pointers in the game, including four by Jake Showalter and two by Zak Showalter.

Menomonee Falls/Germantown gymnastics

The local co-op, which will now be off until a Jan. 4 home dual meet against Brookfield, was led by Aerial Holt, who was second in floor exercise with an 8.7 score and third on uneven bars (8.275) while Paige Lemley was second on vault (no score available).

The Indians turned in good efforts on the vault (33.775 team score) and floor (32.95).

Menomonee Falls wrestling

The Indians got a second-place finish from Billy Holz at 113 pounds to lead them to a 16th-place showing in the 19-school Badger State Invitational on Dec. 23.

Holz's efforts led the Indians to a 39-point total as Merrill won with 184.5.

Aaron Daly went 3-2 on the day (9-4 overall) at 106 pounds and took sixth while Bill Steinke at 170, also went 3-2 (8-5 overall) and claimed seventh. Austin Meyers at 132 was 2-3 (7-6 overall) and earned eighth.

Falls now takes part in the Northern Exposure Dual Meet Invite in Merrill on Wednesday and Thursday.

- Steven L. Tietz

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